336 



MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE. 



the germination of the seed of this plant requires 

 circumstances not less favorable than that of the 

 white. To ascertain this point, it would only 

 require to be sown by itself, after the rye-grass 

 is harrowed in, and might be tried either with 

 or without rolling. 



There is another practical application tliat 

 may also be dra^^^l fiom the view we have ad- 

 vanced regarding the action of Lime upon de- 

 composable matter. 'We have imputed to this 

 action nearly the whole benefit resulting to the 

 crop from its application. If this view i« well 

 founded, it must follow that its application to 

 land which naturally contains but little, or which 

 has been exhausted of its decomposable matter 

 by overcropping, or otherwise, (for much plow- 



ing, by exposing the soil to the action of the at- 

 mosphere, also tends to decompose animal or 

 vegetable matter, and the crops to exhaust it,) 

 can be attended with little or no advantage, and 

 it is from this cause that the first application ot 

 lime is always attended with the best effect 

 from the undiminished accumulation of tliis mat- 

 ter in the soil. The application of dung or any 

 other manure to the soil, to use a familiar illus- 

 tration, is like giving a feed of corn to a horse- 

 it tends to strengthen and noun.sh ; while Lime 

 may be regarded as the application of the whip 

 or spur — it imparts no new strength, but stimu- 

 lates into action the power which previouslj' 

 existed. 



[Trans, of the Highland and Agri. Soc. of Scotland. 



THE HOUSEWIFE'S DEPARTMENT. 



POULTRY, AND USEFUL RECIPES. 



"To me more dear, congenial to my heart, 

 One native chann, than all the gloss of art; 

 Spontaneous joys, where Nature has its play. 

 The soul adopts, and owns their tirst-born sway; 

 Lightly they frolic o'er the vacant mind, 

 Unenvied, unmolested, uncontined." 



It is said by naturalists, and by old women 

 from whom naturalists and philosophers have 

 learned much of all they know, that, hatch the 

 egg of a wild turkey where you may, and rear 

 the young as you may, neither art nor time can 

 ever thoroughly extinguish its instinctive long- 

 for the wood. To its shades and its privacy 

 its inclinations ever point as the needle lo the 

 pole. Thus it is with the man who has been 

 reared in the covntry ! — he can never be cured 

 of his predilection for scenes where first he set 

 bis traps, or chased the timid hare to his last for- 

 lorn hope of safety in the ground or hollow tree. 

 His profession or business — the best use of his 

 faculties for the support of his family— may im- 

 pose a forced residence in a city. Sometimes it 

 may happen that ample fortune may open the 

 "world before him where to choose," and his 

 heart may yearn for the open air and active ex- 

 ercises of rural life — yet the vanity, the caprice, 

 the indolence and frivolity of an ambitious wife, 

 may drag him to take up his abode in a large 

 town, that she may the better enjoy its ease, its 

 gayety, and all its luxurious and sensual indul- 

 gences. If, in this case, without training or ne- 

 cessity for business, he happen unfortunately to 

 have no turn for literature, after sighing in vain 

 for the physical excitements and occupations of 

 the country, which might supply to him the 

 place of books, he becomes wearied of exist- 

 (70U) 



ence, and so betakes himself to the dice-boi or 

 the bottle — ways ever open for escape from en- 

 mii and from life. 



" But the long pomp, the midnight masquerade, 

 With all the freaks of wanton wealth arrayed 

 In these, ere triflers half their wish obtain. 

 The toiling pleasure sickens iuto pain ; 

 And, e'en while Fashion's brightest arts decoy, 

 The heart, distrusting, asks if this be joy ? 



Thus it sometimes happens that a large fortune, 

 which was the fruit of a long career of parental 

 industrj', and fondly designed as a blessing for 

 the son, is turned into a curse by the folly of a 

 wayward, ill-trained woman. 



Not only with the countrJ^ but with the wom- 

 en's department in the country, are all a man's 

 earliest and most grateful recollections asso- 

 ciated ! How, gentle reader, should it be oth- 

 erwise 1 Was it not there that his heart first 

 swelled with the spirit of rivalry and ambition, 

 in plays at ball and bandy ? that it first exulted 

 in the pride of property, when mounted on his 

 pet pony, Button or Taff', and his own new sad- 

 dle and bridle ? And, then, his gun and shot- 

 bag, and home-made powder-horn, scraped into 

 transparency with pieces of glass bottle ! And, 

 again, who, we pray you, carried the keys of the 

 old closet under the stairs— that venerated re- 

 pository of so many good nugs : sugar — molass- 

 es— preser\'es — ginger-cakes- almonds — raisins 



